From Saturday 7th May – Sunday 8th May (10am-5pm each day) Portumna Castle will become a one-stop destination for owners in need of accurate, impartial and free advice on caring and repairing their protected structures and heritage buildings.

This is an opportunity to watch two dozen craftspeople demonstrate key traditional building skills needed for the conservation of old buildings, including sash window repairs; stained glass and fanlight conservation; stone carving; dry stonewall construction; use of lime-based mortars; decorative plasterwork; ironwork; slate roofing; mud wall construction; thatching and furniture and clock restoration.

In tandem with the demonstrations are two-days of interactive talks the history, maintenance and repair of old buildings.

Attendance at all demonstrations and talks is free of charge and no booking is necessary. The the full programme of demonstrations and talks can be accessed here. Please contact the Irish Georgian Society with any queries.

Historic Houses of Ireland Conference

The theme of the conference is The Country House and Landed Estate in Time of Revolution and the conference will also include the launch of the CSHIHE and Maynooth University Library exhibition ‘1916 and the Irish Country House: Rebellion and War’.